In case of doubt you can always replace the OS with whatever Linux distribution you choose, which only leaves closed-source driver/fw blobs - but that problem is shared with every other general-purpose computer these days.
A few companies had built extremely compromised electric vehicles (Leaf, e-Golf, etc) with anemic range. No one built a 200-300 mile range electric sedan with the best in-class performance and best safety features seen in an auto to-date. (speaking of crash safety, not Autopilot).
Asking how much energy the on-grid batteries have saved is a non-sequitur. That's like asking how much energy Tesla automobiles have saved. Probably very little, but that is irrelevant in the grand scheme. The short-term (1-2 yr) question of energy saved doesn't matter. The long-term (10-50) question of "is this pushing the entire industry in a better direction" is the important question. I think it is Yes for on-grid battery storage, as it is Yes for Tesla automobiles, as it is Yes for reusable rockets for space transit. Must take the long view.
Seems analogous to say it's stealing TV when you don't watch the commercials, or clipping out ads before reading a paper? It doesn't make sense. I have control over what code is run on my computer. Allowing one party to show me content and blocking others isn't stealing or even in a grey area.
> Compaction is an online operation which reclaims the space used by the deleted and duplicate needles (needles with the same key). It creates a new haystack by copying needles while skipping any duplicate or deleted entries. Once done it swaps the files and in-memory structures.